The pile in the yard sets the available megawatts
The Ministry of Power order of 25 September, under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, directs 112 captive coal plants of at least 50 megawatts to run at maximum available capacity from 1 October through 31 December. The plants feed aluminium, steel, cement and refinery loads. The list includes Tata Steel, Vedanta, Hindalco, JSW Steel, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries, Indian Oil, Bharat Aluminium, Hindustan Zinc and Nayara Energy.[1]
The same report says nearly 40 per cent of coal-fired plants are already running on critically low fuel stocks. The ministry ties the demand rise to hotter weather associated with El Niño. Maximum available capacity is what the boiler and the coal in the yard can give that week. Nameplate capacity does not become generation when the stock is missing. Fast coal buying loosens that bind. If buying lags, the order stays at the megawatt-hours the pile allows.[1]
What the weekly stock sheet separates
Surplus electricity after captive use is to be sold on power exchanges. Each plant is to write generation, captive consumption, sales, available capacity and coal stocks to the Central Electricity Authority every week. A separate extension keeps Tata Power's plant at Mundra, in the state of Gujarat, at full capacity until 31 December. Mundra runs on imported coal.[1]
The weekly stock line is the physical test of the order. If stocks stay critically low, the instruction covering 112 plants is bounded by the tonnes in the yard. If stocks rebuild, the same instruction turns into delivered generation. The import line at Mundra does not fill the domestic pile at a Hindalco or Tata Steel yard. The two supply lines stand apart.[1]